中国物理B ›› 2022, Vol. 31 ›› Issue (5): 56301-056301.doi: 10.1088/1674-1056/ac4238

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Impact of thermostat on interfacial thermal conductance prediction from non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations

Song Hu(胡松), C Y Zhao(赵长颖), and Xiaokun Gu(顾骁坤)   

  1. Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
  • 收稿日期:2021-10-07 修回日期:2021-11-23 出版日期:2022-05-14 发布日期:2022-04-09
  • 通讯作者: Xiaokun Gu,E-mail:xiaokun.gu@sjtu.edu.cn E-mail:xiaokun.gu@sjtu.edu.cn
  • 基金资助:
    X.G.acknowledges the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.51706134).

Impact of thermostat on interfacial thermal conductance prediction from non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations

Song Hu(胡松), C Y Zhao(赵长颖), and Xiaokun Gu(顾骁坤)   

  1. Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
  • Received:2021-10-07 Revised:2021-11-23 Online:2022-05-14 Published:2022-04-09
  • Contact: Xiaokun Gu,E-mail:xiaokun.gu@sjtu.edu.cn E-mail:xiaokun.gu@sjtu.edu.cn
  • About author:2021-12-11
  • Supported by:
    X.G.acknowledges the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.51706134).

摘要: The knowledge of interfacial thermal conductance (ITC) is key to understand thermal transport in nanostructures. The non-equilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD) simulation is a useful tool to calculate the ITC. In this study, we investigate the impact of thermostat on the prediction of the ITC. The Langevin thermostat is found to result in larger ITC than the Nose-Hoover thermostat. In addition, the results from NEMD simulations with the Nose-Hoover thermostat exhibit strong size effect of thermal reservoirs. Detailed spectral heat flux decomposition and modal temperature calculation reveal that the acoustic phonons in hot and cold thermal reservoirs are of smaller temperature difference than optical phonons when using the Nose-Hoover thermostat, while phonons in the Langevin thermostat are of identical temperatures. Such a non-equilibrium state of phonons in the case of the Nose-Hoover thermostat reduces the heat flux of low-to-middle-frequency phonons. We also discuss how enlarging the reservoirs or adding an epitaxial rough wall to the reservoirs affects the predicted ITC, and find that these attempts could help to thermalize the phonons, but still underestimate the heat flux from low-frequency phonons.

关键词: interfacial thermal conductance, phonon transport, molecular dynamics

Abstract: The knowledge of interfacial thermal conductance (ITC) is key to understand thermal transport in nanostructures. The non-equilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD) simulation is a useful tool to calculate the ITC. In this study, we investigate the impact of thermostat on the prediction of the ITC. The Langevin thermostat is found to result in larger ITC than the Nose-Hoover thermostat. In addition, the results from NEMD simulations with the Nose-Hoover thermostat exhibit strong size effect of thermal reservoirs. Detailed spectral heat flux decomposition and modal temperature calculation reveal that the acoustic phonons in hot and cold thermal reservoirs are of smaller temperature difference than optical phonons when using the Nose-Hoover thermostat, while phonons in the Langevin thermostat are of identical temperatures. Such a non-equilibrium state of phonons in the case of the Nose-Hoover thermostat reduces the heat flux of low-to-middle-frequency phonons. We also discuss how enlarging the reservoirs or adding an epitaxial rough wall to the reservoirs affects the predicted ITC, and find that these attempts could help to thermalize the phonons, but still underestimate the heat flux from low-frequency phonons.

Key words: interfacial thermal conductance, phonon transport, molecular dynamics

中图分类号:  (Phonons in crystal lattices)

  • 63.20.-e
31.15.xv (Molecular dynamics and other numerical methods) 68.35.Ja (Surface and interface dynamics and vibrations)